JAVS Fall 2022

Health and Wellness

Returning to Music After A Concussion: A Conversation with Violist Daniel Stone by Kayleigh Miller

I first met Daniel when I was subbing with the Seattle Symphony in the fall of 2018--he had recently won the section viola position there and, unbeknownst to me, had experienced a concussion between winning the audition in March and moving to Seattle. He was experiencing post-concussion syndrome and wanted to work with me, since I had experience teaching Pilates and movement to clients with neurological conditions. I had little experience working with post concussion syndrome, and our sessions were a combination of experimentation of neurology drills and music-specific exercises to try to help Dan return to playing in orchestra.

that badly immediately: I had double vision for about a minute after I fell, as well as a bloody nose and some skin abrasions. I suspected I had experienced a concussion but felt well enough to make it back to the car. K: When did abnormal symptoms start to show up? D: During the car ride back, I was quite nauseous. Luckily, I was with friends, and one of them drove me home. I was disoriented trying to give him directions, and he said that I was trying to open the trunk of my car with the windshield wiper button when we got there. I remember not being able to speak coherently, and he called an ambulance and came with me to the hospital. K: What happened at the emergency room? Did they give you any suggestions for care afterwards? D: I don’t remember much about the ER--they held me for observation, determined that it wasn’t serious enough for MRI or other testing, but they did do a blood draw. After a few hours, I was lucid and discharged. K: What was the next week like for you? D: For the first week or so, I was extremely tired. After that, I was irritable and had trouble focusing, but also had waves of feeling relatively normal. I didn’t have any other additional tests taken initially, just a doctor’s note to take a week off from work. K: What was it like going back to work in Calgary for the last few weeks of the season? D: It was hard to focus, and I was really tired all of the time. I also felt like I needed space, even in breaks, and I needed more quiet. It was frustrating, but I was able to get through it. By two weeks after the incident, I could cycle through periods of feeling normal mixed with feeling extremely fatigued.

Photo courtesy of Kayleigh Miller.

Kayleigh: What were the circumstances of your most recent concussion? Daniel: I was on my way down from a hike near Banff and was going too fast for my footing to keep up with my momentum. This was in June of 2018, in my last month with the Calgary Philharmonic. I fell forward and did a few front rolls down a steep incline. I didn’t feel

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 2, Fall 2022

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